A Merry Matchmaker
by Hypo Prower
Summary: It’s Christmas, and everyone just wants to figure out who Blaze likes. Sonic decides to go to Marine for help, considering that she’s the closest to her, but that proves to be a bit of a chaotic decision…
1. Accidents and Discoveries

**A/N: Well, I'm finally starting to return to the Sonic scene again and publish a Christmas fic. Something new, something different, same kind of humor.**

**I'm going to try to get all this uploaded by Christmas Eve, wish me luck! I've started kind of late...**A Merry Matchmaker

* * *

Title:

**Summary: **It's Christmas, and everyone just wants to figure out who Blaze likes. Sonic decides to go to Marine for help, considering that she's the closest to her, but that proves to be a bit of a chaotic decision…

* * *

"Thanks, Amy!" Sonic grinned as the pink hedgehog poured him another cup of hot cocoa. The steam wafted off the mug, so the cobalt hero decided to blow on the beverage before attempting to drink.

Amy placed the ladle back in the boiling pot of cocoa on the stovetop. The atmosphere around the house was pretty noisy, considering that it was only three days until the big holiday: Christmas. Knuckles, Shadow and Silver were outside decorating the house (and failing miserably at it), Tails was helping Marine and Cream decorate the Christmas tree, and everyone else was chilling somewhere around the house.

Sonic sighed he sat down at the kitchen table with Amy. "I'm kinda worried about Blaze," he admitted, his gaze drifting to the purple cat. She was seated on the sofa, watching TV.

"Why are you worried?" Amy asked, a concerned edge in her voice. "She's alright, isn't she?"

"I guess…" the blue hedgehog sipped some of his hot chocolate. "She seems kind of under the weather lately, though."

Amy was silent for a moment before speaking again. "Maybe you should ask Marine if she knows anything," she finally suggested. "I mean, she's closest to her, right? Maybe even Silver, but I doubt she'd tell Silver anything…"

Sonic digested this for a moment. "Hmm, maybe you're right…" his green eyes flickered. "I just hate to see her so glum when everyone else is having so much fun…"

Suddenly, there was a commotion outside as Shadow fell off the roof of the house after Knuckles dropped the ladder, and Silver was hanging on for dear life. Sonic looked out the window in the kitchen to see the ivory hedgehog dangling, and Shadow face-first in the snow.

"Silver!" Sonic cried and rushed out the door, Amy close behind him.

* * *

"Ow." Shadow winced as Rouge put an ice pack on his head, which had made direct contact with the ground.

"Oh, be still," the bat said, rolling her eyes. "You should've known better than let Knuckles hold the ladder."

"I heard that," Knuckles called from across the room, nursing his arm where the ladder smashed into it. Rouge giggled and allowed Shadow to hold the ice pack in place.

The three were in the living room along with Silver and Sonic. Rouge turned her head slightly to look at Silver, who was recuperating on the couch. "How are you holding up, Silver, dear?" she asked, walking over to him.

The hedgehog opened one yellow eye and groaned. "I'm fine," he muttered. Sonic, who was seated next to him, couldn't help but snicker.

"That was actually pretty funny, watching you screaming for dear life," he jeered. Silver kicked him, receiving a yelp of pain.

"Shut up. You would've screamed louder."

Rouge sighed and walked out of the living room. "Let me know if you boys need anything," she stated before sauntering into the kitchen to join Amy and Blaze.

Sonic began to think about what he and Amy were discussing before the accident. Curious, he turned to Silver. "Hey, Silv…have you heard Blaze talk about anything lately?"

"Well sure," Silver replied, lifting his head. "The other day we talked about how we looked through a photo album last Christmas, and how she didn't like sailing on the ocean with Marine as much as running on dry land, and…"

"No, not like that!" Sonic rolled his eyes with an exasperated sigh. "I mean, have you noticed her talking about anything that she's worried or sad about?"

"Oh." Silver racked his brain a moment. "Umm…not really, sorry."

Knuckles smirked. "Maybe she's depressed that she can't bake as well as I can."

Shadow moaned. "Those cookies gave me indigestion for days…"

"Somehow, I don't think that's it." Sonic frowned and thought deeply for a moment. "It just seems like she's really depressed lately, and it's kind of unlike her around this time of year."

Silver smirked and lay his head back down. "I wouldn't worry about it," he informed Sonic. "She's always moody about something, I think her emotions are like a flickering flame. She'll be fine on Christmas morning."

Sonic shrugged. "OK, whatever you say," he replied.

Somehow, though, he wasn't convinced.

* * *

"Hey Marine, can I ask you a question?"

The raccoon was upstairs in the guest bedroom wrapping presents. She looked up at the hedgehog and smiled, glad that someone was actually asking for her wisdom.

"Sure, mate," she answered, putting the last piece of tape on a newly wrapped box. "What's up?"

"Well, it's about Blaze."

Marine's blue eyes turned wide. "Whoa, I 'ad no idea yer were interested in her," she marveled, grabbing another gift item she had bought someone. "You askin' what her favorite color is? 'cuz she thinks dark purple is ripper."

"What? No!" Sonic rolled his eyes at the spunky pirate. "I don't want to ask her out. I was wondering if she's down about something."

"Loike sad?" Marine put the scissors she was using down and pondered a moment. "Yer na', I think that she is a mite upset."

The speedster smiled. Finally he was getting somewhere! "Yeah?? What's she upset about, do you know?"

"Ah, well, th' things that all gals are sad 'bout this toime o' year…"

Oh, great. It's a chick thing. "And that is…?" Sonic inquired.

"They don't got no one to kiss under th' mistletoe…"

Everything suddenly came together. "Ohh, so that's it!" Sonic proclaimed. "She wants a boyfriend! She's lonely because everyone else has someone to love, and she doesn't!"

Marine smirked grimly. "Oi dan't have no one to smooch either…"

The thought of Marine kissing anyone kind of made Sonic want to laugh aloud. He kept quiet, however. "Alright, do you have any ideas about who she would maybe want as a boyfriend?"

The raccoon grinned cheekily. "I 'ear she's got her eye on Shadow…"

"Shadow…" Sonic blinked. Well that was kind of weird. But whatever. "OK, I guess that's who I'll have to pair together. Thanks for your help Marine."

"Glad to help. Na' get out, I'm wrappin' yer present next…"

Sonic exited the room and closed the door behind him. Heading downstairs, the hero smiled widely.

He would get Blaze to be happy this Christmas after all!

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**Yeah, so, review and tell me what you think! I'd love to know.**


	2. A Discussion in the Snow

**What? An update so soon?**

**Well, I have to get this out of the way before Christmas Eve. I'll probably update a few chapters today, and a few tomorrow. I'll be writing my little fingers off!**

**Also, thanks for the reviews.**

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"Hey Shadow, what are you doing?"

The black and red hedgehog glared at Sonic, whose eager eyes were lit up with excitement. Shadow rolled his eyes and snorted. "What does it look like I'm doing, blue hedgehog?" he asked, not amused. "I fell off a roof a few hours ago. I'm still waiting for the pain to go away."

"Great!" Sonic smiled, grabbing his hand. "Then you'll love to come with me outside!"

Shadow frowned and blinked twice before putting the skids on his skates. "Sonic, I'm not going outside."

Sonic winked. "You'll want to after I show you what's out there!"

This got Shadow curious, as he began to think that someone was going to give him a Christmas present early. Now with an eager smile, the antihero shook Sonic's hand off and raced to the front door.

Outside, it was getting dark and starting to calmly snow, as opposed to the violent flurries earlier. The house looked beautiful as it was lit up with the decorations Shadow, Knuckles and Silver had worked so hard on before.

Standing in the snow, watching the moon rise in the horizon, was Blaze.

The cat looked over her shoulder when she heard Shadow and Sonic walk outside. She smirked, waved slightly, then turned back to the horizon.

"Where's it at??" Shadow demanded, ruby eyes darting wildly. "I need that new AK-47!"

"What are you talking about?" Sonic asked, furrowing his brow. "There's no gun out here for you."

"WHAT?!"

Sonic grabbed Shadow's shoulder and spun him in Blaze's direction. Then he pushed him over to her. "Go on, talk to her," he muttered.

Shadow had regained his composure, and was back to his normal self. "And why on Earth would I want to do that?"

"She's lonely!" Sonic retorted, and shoved his rival closer to the pyrokinetic. "Just shut up and go talk to her, alright?"

"Alright, alright…" Shadow rolled his eyes and sauntered over Blaze. Sonic raced inside and glued his face to the kitchen window, where he could get a good view of the two.

Blaze shifted her gaze to the hedgehog beside her. "What brings you out here, Shadow?" she asked. "Wasn't Sonic with you?"

"Yeah, but he's acting weird today," Shadow replied, looking at the night sky. "Why are you out here by yourself?"

Blaze shrugged, her scarf brushing her cheek. "I dunno, just felt like stargazing. It's been a while since I've done it, and it's absolutely beautiful with the snow falling…"

Shadow realized this, and smiled whenever he saw the glistening sight. "This reminds me of the space colony ARK," he admitted. "The stars were just like the ones Maria and I gazed at from the colony…"

"Maria…" Blaze nodded and sighed. "I've heard about her. You must really miss her, right?"

"Everyday," Shadow agreed. "It's gotten a bit better, but my heart still yearns for her…especially this time of year."

"I'm sorry."

The hedgehog shrugged. "It's not your fault, you don't have to be sorry."

The feline opened her mouth to say something, but suddenly started to shiver. Shadow eyed her as she wrapped her arms around herself. "I-It's cold," she shivered. "I guess I should've known better than to come out here in a jacket and scarf…"

"Maybe we should go inside," Shadow suggested, and turned to walk back inside the house. Blaze took one more look at the stars before following him back inside.

Sonic saw the two fast approaching the house, and, not wanting to be caught eavesdropping, he quickly sped to the oven and started to cook something—anything—that came to mind. That particular thing happened to be cookies.

Blaze and Shadow had just walked into the kitchen when they saw the blue hedgehog nervously stirring a bowl of cookie dough. "H-Hey guys, didn't even notice you two out there," he said sheepishly, setting the bowl down and getting out cookie trays.

"Umm…" Blaze furrowed her brow. "Didn't you go outside with Shadow and see me out there…?"

"Nope, nada, zilch, had no idea," Sonic turned the oven on.

Shadow narrowed his eyes. "Hey, blue hedgehog, apparently you didn't notice the amount of cookies that Amy, Rouge and Blaze baked yesterday either," he stated, pointing to the overflowing jars and tins full of Christmas cookies.

The speedy hedgehog shifted his emerald gaze to the counter that was filled with goods baked in preparation for Christmas. He chuckled nervously and snapped the oven off.

"I knew that," Sonic said with a wave. "I just felt like making cookie dough. You know, to eat plain?"

"Cookie dough?" Tails suddenly stuck his head inside the kitchen door from the living room. "Did you say cookie dough? Mind if I have some?"

Sonic was silent for a moment before smirking. Well, that was convenient. "Sure thing, bud!" he exclaimed, grabbing the bowl full of dough and taking two spoons out of the pantry. "We'll demolish this thing before you can say 'ornament'!"

As the two began to consume the doughy treat, Tails genuinely happy and Sonic nervous, Shadow strode calmly out of the kitchen. He didn't want to be around Sonic for a while.

Blaze sighed and sauntered out of the kitchen as well, wondering if Cream needed help wrapping her Christmas presents. Sonic's eyes followed her as he stopped eating.

"Hey, you can have the rest," he said absently, giving Tails the bowl and following Blaze and Shadow out of the kitchen. Tails stared after him curiously.

"Wonder what that was about," he muttered. The fox decided to dismiss it, however, and continued to enjoy the cookie dough Sonic had whipped up.

***

Shadow was reading very calmly in the armchair in the living room while Silver and Knuckles threw a football around. "You're going to knock something over," he informed them, but the two were oblivious to his words of warning.

Sonic walked into the kitchen and was greeted with a football shot to the face. He growled and peeled it off, ready to chuck it at whoever had tossed it. His sights locked on Knuckles, and the echidna ended up face-planting the carpet.

As the Silver laughed and Knuckles cried in pain, Sonic walked over to Shadow's chair and sat on the armrest. The hedgehog looked over his reading glasses and glared at Sonic's sneakers.

"What do you want…again?"

Sonic, however, couldn't restrain himself from falling over with laughter. "Oh man, you wear glasses?! That's hilarious!!" The hero rolled around on the floor.

Calmly, Shadow kicked him in the face.

After whimpering in pain, Sonic jumped and stared eagerly at his rival. "Um, anyway," he grinned. "Did you and Blaze, y'know, connect or anything?"

"Connect?" Shadow raised an eyebrow. "We talked. Then we went inside. I don't think we 'connected'."

"That bites," Sonic sighed, deflated now that his hopes had been shot down.

If it wasn't Shadow that Blaze was after, then who was it? And what was it going to take for her to enjoy herself on Christmas?

Sonic was very, very determined to find out.

It was time to see Marine again.

* * *

**A little disoriented, I think, but I tried to add a bit of humor to it. Was it any good?**

**Oh, and yesterday my mom made that stuff that's inside Three Musketeers bars. And she dipped in in chocolate. AWESOME.**


	3. Marine Becomes Cocky

**And just like that, here's chapter three. Hope everyone's enjoying this so far.**

**This won't be a very long story, mind you. Can only type so much in two days.**

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"It's not Shadow."

Marine sat in her self-appointed desk in the guest bedroom. It was really the work desk that Tails had put in his workshop, but the crafty lass had pilfered it and was using it to draw new ship designs. She looked up at the hedgehog with a blank expression.

"What are ya talkin' bout, mate?" she asked, setting the picture she was drawing aside.

Sonic crossed his arms and tapped his foot. Had she forgotten already? "Blaze does not dig Shadow. She wants someone else."

"Oh." The raccoon smirked and leaned back in the rolling chair she had ALSO taken from Tails' workshop. "Well then it's ratha' obvious who the sheila likes then."

"Enlighten me," Sonic demanded, leaning on the table. Man, he wasn't fond of Marine's attitude. The Aussie smirked and shrugged.

"Oi dan't na if oi should, tho'," she explained. "Oi mean, aren't ya supposed ta be th' great, smart hero?"

The hedgehog grabbed his ears and pulled them down in frustration. "I don't know!!" he exclaimed. "It's a girl thing, how and I supposed to figure it out?!"

Marine leaned on her arms on the table with a sly expression. "Well, oi suppose tha' oi could tell ya who it is, but…"

"Marine. I will do ANYTHING."

"Well, in tha' case…" she stuck out her hand. "50 rings. Pay up, drongo."

Sonic glared at the lady pirate with a deathly spark in his green eyes. "Are you serious."

Marine snickered and nodded. "Serious as a heart attack, mate." Then she sighed and slid her drawing back in front of her. "But, oi suppose if yer dan't want ta know tha' bad, then…"

"OK, OK!" Sonic hurriedly dug out his wallet and emptied all the rings out of it. "There are 57 rings. Are you happy??"

"Thanks, mate!" Marine greedily snatched up all the rings into her arms. "And I kna I'm right this time about who it is…"

* * *

Sonic peeked into the living room to see Knuckles taking a nap on the couch. He sighed and stuck up an eyebrow. _Hoo boy,_ he thought. _I can't believe that Blaze really wants to go for that idiot. But whatever._

The hedgehog snuck quietly into the room and slipped behind the couch. Knuckles slowly slid one eyelid halfway open to see what the commotion was. He almost had a heart attack, though, as Sonic jumped out and screamed, "WAKE UP, KNUCKLEHEAD!!"

"AHH!" Knuckles sat bolt upright and heaved, trying to calm his racing heart. Sonic was busting up laughing behind the couch where he was hiding. The echidna glared down at him and barred his teeth.

"You seriously think that's funny, blue boy?" he growled. Sonic opened one eye and gave him a thumbs up, still laughing. In return, Knuckles took off one of his boots and chucked it right at his attacker's face.

After crying in pain, Sonic stood up and gave Knuckles his shoe back. "Anyway, Knuckles, I wanted to ask you something," he explained. The guardian gave him a weird look.

"Why the heck would you want to ask me anything?" he asked. "You always call me an idiot, why would you want my input on anything??"

"I need to ask you to do something for me."

"Oh boy, here we go…" Knuckles grumbled something to himself about always being asked about favors. "Alright Sonic. What do you want?"

* * *

Blaze was sitting in the basement, watching Cream and Amy play a video game on the TV there. The cat was accompanied by Rouge. The silver-colored bat looked curiously at the princess, who was staring somewhat nonchalantly at her hot chocolate.

"Are you alright, dear?" she asked, worry in her tone. Blaze looked up suddenly from her drink and smiled.

"Oh yeah, I'm absolutely fine," she reassured. "I guess lately I've just been a bit under the weather…"

Rouge stuck up an eyebrow. "What are you so depressed about?"

Amy turned to the cat, curious to see what she was sad about as well. Blaze sighed and shrugged, taking another sip of her cocoa. "I don't know…I guess I'm always kind of a scrooge when it comes to Christmas."

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that," Rouge said, smiling a bit. Amy grinned slightly.

"Hey, we're always here for you, if you ever need anything," she put in. Blaze finally smiled slightly as well.

"Thank you, guys. All of you."

Suddenly, she put her head up and looked around. "Where's Marine?" she asked. "You'd think that she'd want to join us…"

The conversation was interrupted abruptly as two sets of feet were heard bounding down the steps: Sonic and Knuckles. Sonic was first, eagerly gripping Knuckles' wrists. The echidna was following with a less enthusiastic expression.

"Blaze!" Sonic exclaimed, letting go of Knuckles' wrist. This caused him to stumble down the last few steps and fall face first on the floor. "We need you right now! It's important!"

Blaze put on an alarmed expression and got up, setting the hot chocolate on the table next to the couch. "Oh, well, let's go then," she answered, approaching the two.

"What's going on, Sonic?" Amy asked, wonder in her voice. The hedgehog looked over her shoulder and winked, nudging towards the feline. The pink hedgehog understood Sonic's unspoken message and nodded.

Rouge, however, was utterly confused. Cream was too preoccupied with the game to notice.

* * *

After the three had traveled upstairs, Blaze crossed her arms and darted her gaze around frantically. "Where's the trouble at?" she asked hastily, flexing her claws in preparation for whatever danger was imminent.

"Who said it was trouble?" Sonic answered while leading the two outside. "I just said we needed you."

"Oh." Blaze blinked twice, still puzzled. "Well, you said it was important. What's going on outside?"

"Yeah, Sonic," Knuckles agreed, narrowing his purple eyes. "What's going on outside."

Sonic grinned and led the couple into the front yard, where a giant snowman in the shape of Knuckles' body was seated. "Do you think my snowman is handsome?"

Blaze stared vacantly at the snow Knuckles, still trying to comprehend what the heck was going on here. Knuckles, on the other hand, was furious that Sonic had made a statue of him. "That's not what I look like!" he roared, preparing to knock the atrocity down. Sonic cocked his head and squinted.

"Hmm, you really don't think so?" he asked. "I spent a lot of time on it, especially the butt…"

"Then why the heck is it so big?!"

"Umm, I just shaped it to scale…"

That was it. Knuckles leapt up and tackled Sonic into the white powder that covered the ground. Blaze watched the two tussle for a moment before starting back for the house. "Shadow was right," she called back as she left. "You are acting weird, Sonic."

After Sonic had successfully kicked Knuckles off of him, he zoomed for the door before the echidna could attack him again. "You'd better watch it, Sonic!" he screamed after him, waving his spiked fist threateningly.

* * *

Sonic triple-knocked on Marine's bedroom door. After receiving an 'it's open, mate', he slammed the door open and was at the raccoon's desk in a heartbeat.

"It's not Knuckles."

Marine shrugged, not meeting the speedster's eyes. "Oi never said my predictions were correct, mate," she justified, finishing a drawing of a ship.

"Predictions?!" Sonic's face was furious. "When did you say that they were predictions?! You made it sound like you knew what you were talking about!"

The raccoon heaved a sigh and stood up, heading for the door. Sonic grabbed her shoulder and squeezed hard. Marine gave him a death glare, "That's painful, dude."

"Where do you think you're going?!" he demanded. Marine smirked.

"Oi think tha' Tails made s'me brownies earlier, and I'm going to make sure they're not poisoned." Sonic jerked the pirate around so that she faced him. Calmly, he knelt down to her level.

"Marine. I paid 57 rings for the truth. Now do you really and truly know who Blaze is in love with?"

Marine thought for a moment before putting on a sly smile. "Yup."

"Who?"

Her grin got wider and she lowered her eyelids more.

"Who??"

She snickered.

"Marine. Who."

"Tails."

Sonic's eyebrows shot up and his jaw hit the floor.

Tails.

* * *

**Will our favorite two-tailed fox make our favorite pyro cat happy? Probably not, but who knows...Marine can be very unpredictable at times. Heh.**


	4. The Dawn of Realization

**A/N: I'm not rushing, I promise!! It was just a short chapter!**

**The next one will be the last. Whew! Didn't think I could write a 5-chapter story in 3 days. Thanks for everyone's support!**

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Sonic squinted his eyes in a suspicious manner as he peered into the living room. Tails was there, munching on a Christmas cookie and watching TV. The hedgehog frowned and racked his brain for a time—ANY time—that Blaze had ever even shown the slightest interest in the two-tailed fox.

He couldn't think of anything.

Tails was just sitting there innocently, downing a glass of milk to go along with his holiday treat. Sonic hummed then sighed, finally deciding that, well, he was this far, might as well go all the way.

Trying to be discreet, Sonic slipped upstairs into the bedroom that Blaze was stationed in and knocked. He heard footsteps before the door opened, the cat herself appearing. "Hey, Sonic," she said nonchalantly, taking off her reading glasses.

Suddenly, Sonic busted up into laughter again. The cat narrowed her eyes and glared at him rolling on the floor, "What on Earth are you laughing at?!"

"Y-y-you wear r-reading glasses t-too!!" Sonic beat his fists on the ground in a futile attempt to stop laughing. _Oh_, that was funny.

"Shut up!" Blaze demanded, creating balls of fire in her palms, ready to aim it at the amused hedgehog. That caused Sonic to gulp and therefore quit busting up with laughter. "Anyway…what do you want?"

"Oh, right," Sonic dusted himself off and leapt to his feet. "I was wondering if you would come downstairs with me for…"

Blaze snorted and turned back to walk into her room. "Forget it," she tossed over her shoulder. "I've been through enough weird stuff with you in the past couple days. Last night it was Shadow, and then a couple hours ago it was Knuckles. I don't want to go anywhere else with you."

"But…"

"No!" The princess said more sternly. "Just stay away from me until the Christmas party tonight, and MAYBE I won't pulverize you."

Sonic crossed his arms and lowered his eye lids, sticking up an eyebrow. However, Blaze didn't notice, and stormed into her room before slamming the door.

The speedy hero sighed and tapped his foot. "Well, if I can't bring Blaze to Tails…I have to bring Tails to Blaze!"

* * *

A couple hours later, everybody noticed that it was fast approaching seven o' clock, and it was time for the annual Christmas Eve Party. So, in a hurried haste to get ready, all the girls locked themselves in their bedrooms and kind of left the guys out in the cold…

Silver tapped his foot impatiently in the living room, where everybody else was gathered. "This is stupid! I have to get ready, too!" he complained. Shadow rolled his eyes and told him to shut up.

As everyone had a simultaneous sigh, Sonic suddenly got a great idea. "Hey, Tails, come with me upstairs for a second?" he asked. The fox looked up and blinked twice with confusion.

"Why?"

"You'll see when we get up there."

Shrugging, the twin-tailed fox hopped up from his spot and followed the speedster upstairs, wondering what was up.

Meanwhile, Blaze was in her bedroom, getting changed into her Christmas attire. She was putting on a festive sweater and a pair of jeans. Little did she know, however, what was going to go on outside the room.

Sonic led Tails up to the door to Blaze's bedroom and smiled cockily. Tails frowned and rubbed the back of his head. "Umm, what are you going to do, Sonic?" he asked. Before he could get an answer, the blue revved up into a spiky ball and rammed into the bedroom door.

This, of course, caused the door to completely fall over, and revealed Blaze, who was in the middle of changing clothes.

"SONIC!" the feline screamed, "TAILS! GET THE HECK OUT OF HERE BEFORE I KICK YOUR BUTTS!!"

The hedgehog raised his eyebrows in surprise. "But Blaze," he started, "I thought you'd be happy to see Tails…"

"Maybe when I'm not half dressed! Get out of here before I call the cops!!"

Tails could just stand there dumbfounded, wondering what on Earth had gotten into Sonic. Said hedgehog grabbed the mechanic's wrist and sped downstairs, hoping to avoid any more trouble.

"Well, that was a bust," Sonic whispered. "Just when I thought I could get Blaze to be happy this Christmas…"

Sonic was suddenly furious. He revved up his feet and dashed at lightning speed back up the steps, but instead went to Marine's bedroom. He banged as hard as he could, and when the raccoon opened the door and smiled innocently at him, he barred his teeth.

"I thought t'was Tails…" Marine said innocently.

"YOU. WERE. WRONG."

Marine snorted and crossed her arms. "Listen, mate, if yer didn't want my help, then ya shouldn't've come ter me in th' first place."

"But I DID want your help!" Sonic argued. "I just want to know who the heck Blaze is in love with so I can finally make her HAPPY!"

The conversation was suddenly interrupted by Silver screaming "What's going on up there?!" from the living room. The two arguing animals suddenly stopped dead, their eyes a lit with realization.

"Oi na who it is…" Marine whispered, a marveling edge in her voice.

"Me, too," Sonic whispered back.

"Blaze is in love with…Silver!"

* * *

**Realization dawns on our heroes as they figure out that...it was the person they were avoiding all along. Huh.**


	5. The Perfect Christmas

**Ohh, ohh, look at that! It's December 24th and this story is DONE!! Thank you guys SO much for keeping me motivated! I hope every single one of you have a very Merry Christmas.**

* * *

It was the night of Christmas Eve. Everybody in the house was in the living room, having fun at the annual Christmas party at Sonic's house. Amy was laughing at Knuckles and Silver fighting over the last of Tails' brownies, Marine and Tails were having a rather illogical discussion about the importance of the Christmas tree, and Shadow was hanging out in the back of the room, sipping a cup full of eggnog.

In other words, all was pretty much jolly and festive for the entire Sonic gang.

That is, for everybody except Blaze and Sonic.

"I can't believe it," Sonic muttered, resting his chin on his palm. "The one person that Blaze is in love with was right in our face all along, and now I'm out of time to get them together." Amy, who was seated next to him, gave him a sympathetic nod.

"Aww, you tried your best, Sonic," she said, trying to comfort him. Sonic dropped his ears and sighed.

"Thanks Ames," he said with a small smile. "I just wish that I would've been able to help Blaze out…" The hedgehog closed his eyes and breathed deeply ,trying to think of something—anything—that he could still do to try and get the two lovers together.

"Hold up…" Sonic suddenly leapt up and sped across the room to Marine, who was still arguing with Tails that Christmas trees were unnecessary. He grabbed her shoulder and whirled her around.

The raccoon glared at her captor. "Would ya moind gettin' ya paws offa my shoulder, bloke?" she demanded, smacking his gloved hand away. Tails stared at the two with a confused expression. Sonic looked at Tails and raised an eyebrow.

"Mind giving us a moment?" he asked.

Tails blinked twice and said, "Oh," before spinning around and walking off towards Cream.

Marine growled and gave Sonic a menacing glower. "What do you want from me, mate?" she asked. "Oi already told ya who Blaze loikes, na go work yer magic and get 'em together if ya care so much!"

The speedster rolled his eyes. "If I had something to do, don't you think I would've done it by now?!" he replied. "I don't KNOW what to do! And I need your help."

The raccoon stuck up an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "I'm listening…"

"Look, I just need you to get Blaze into the living room. And get her under the doorway!" Marine cocked her head in confusion. "I'll deal with Silver, just—"

"Hang on."

Sonic stopped in his tracks and inwardly groaned. "What."

The pirate stuck out her hand and wriggled her fingers. "100 rings, buster," she said with an expectant tone.

"Oh, no now!!" The blue blur dug out his wallet and emptied its contents into Marine's outstretched hand. "Look, it's 78, but it's all I got. Will you just take a tab or something??"

"Hmm…" Marine pondered a moment before smirking. "Aww, foine. Jes' dan't never say tha' oi never did anything for ya."

Making their ways hastily, the two split directions, Sonic speeding for Silver and Marine running for the kitchen, where Blaze was pouring herself a glass of eggnog.

The Aussie stood on her tip toes and tapped Blaze on the back, "Oi, mate?"

The cat blinked and turned around, looking down at her friend. "Oh, hello Marine," she smiled. "What's up?"

"Listen, ya can't tell Sonic er Amy this, but…"

Blaze narrowed her yellow eyes, slapping her jeweled forehead. "What did you do…?"

Marine sheepishly gnawed on the end of her gloved finger. "Well, see, Tails 'ad this thing tha' looked loike a gun, so I figured, eh, makes a good Christmas present for Shadow. Well, before I wrapped it, oi figured that I should test it first and moike sure tha' it works. So I aimed it at th' floor, y'know, trying ta be safe, but it bounced off the floor and…got lodged in the doorway."

The purple princess widened her eyes, trying to take all of this in. "OK…and so…this was bad because…?"

"Well, yer see," Marine started again. "It koinda…cracked."

"Cracked."

"Big toime. It won't close."

"So…how is it closed now?"

"I…er…duct taped the front."

Blaze snorted and rolled her eyes. "Quite honestly, that doesn't surprise me," she admitted. "C'mon, let's go asses the damages…"

The two began to stride back to the living room where the rest of the party was going on.

Meanwhile, Sonic had sped over to Silver and was doing some very fast talking—true to his namesake.

"Silver, uhh, I have a favor to ask," Sonic quickly told the telekinetic hedgehog. He raised his eyebrow at Sonic and took a sip of eggnog.

"You know, I've heard you've been asking lots of favors lately, Sonic."

"Yeah, I know, I know," The hero stated, holding his hands out in front of him. "But this one isn't as big as the others."

Silver finished off his beverage and crossed his arms. "I'm listening…"

"OK, so, there's this picture over the doorway. See it?"

Silver stared up at the wall above the door frame. "I see it…"

Sonic smirked and rubbed the back of his head. "OK, see, it's crooked, and I'm too short to reach it…and Amy wants me to fix it because it's of me and her."

"Umm…" The time-warping hedgehog blinked twice with a puzzled expression. "Considering I'm only 2 inches taller than you…how am I supposed to do that?"

"Telekinesis, right?"

"Oh…right."

The hedgehog raised up his glowing gloved hand and started to move the picture.

"Wait….can you get closer to it and move it? It's going to look crooked if we stand all the way back here, I need a closer look at it."

"Uhh…well OK." Silver raised an eyebrow as he and Sonic walked side-by-side over to the door frame. "You've been acting really weird lately, Sonic. Are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine!"

At the same time, Marine and Blaze were making their way over to the door as well. Blaze had her arms crossed, ready to scold Marine at the horrible damage that she saw there from the nail gun.

Both Sonic and Marine paused as Silver and Blaze stepped under the doorway at the same time, Silver adjusting the picture frame and Blaze looking for any sign of damage anywhere. Giving Marine a high-five behind his back, Sonic called to the two, "Hey guys, look above you."

Two pairs of yellow eyes met on the small sprig of mistletoe that was placed ever so conveniently on the wall just above the wooden frame of the door. Both the hedgehog and cat blushed and scratched the back of their heads. "Umm…hello, Silver," Blaze muttered.

"Ah, quit bein' shy," Marine called, causing everybody at the party to turn their attention to the two blushing figures under the mistletoe. "Ya kna' what ya gotta do, so suck each otha's faces already!"

Sonic started laughing, and started chanting, "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" This caused everybody to join in, and Silver and Blaze turned to each other, lost in each other's gazes.

"Guess there's nothing else to do," Silver trailed off. Blaze smirked and grabbed the back of her friend's head. It wasn't long before they started to smooch, and everybody in the room clapped and cheered them on. After they broke, the noise died down in the room, but Sonic was still celebrating.

"I did it! I DID IT!" the hedgehog flounced around the room and spun into a ball, rolling in circles before launching off the couch and doing a victory pose. "I made Blaze happy! Woo hoo!"

Blaze suddenly let go of Silver's hands and glared at the celebrating hedgehog. "Wait, is this what all your weird behavior was about?!" she asked. "You wanted to make me happy? What gave you the idea I wasn't happy?"

Sonic opened his eyes with a small frown and studied Blaze's face. "Oh. Well…I dunno. You just didn't seem happy."

The cat marched up to him and jabbed him in the chest. "I'll have you know that I'm VERY happy!" she said sternly. "And I don't need your help or anybody else's!"

"Aww, c'mon Blaze, don't be so hard on him," Silver reasoned. "I mean, we're together now, right?"

Blaze quit prodding Sonic and paused, thinking this over. "Well, I guess that's true," she decided, and whirled around to hug Silver again. Sonic smirked and crossed his arms, happy that the two were now a very, very happy couple. Maybe this would be the best Christmas for them after all.

"So, Sonic."

The hedgehog looked over his shoulder to see Marine standing there expectantly with her arms crossed. "What is it, Marine?" he asked.

"When am oi gunna get tha' other 25 rings?"

Sonic sighed and rolled his eyes, chuckling and giving Marine a small hug. "In due time, kid."

The raccoon swished her tail in an annoyed manor. "Due toime, nuttin'," she replied. "Oi go back ter my dimenshun afta' New Year's, and oi charge interest!"

"Heh heh!" Sonic winked at the little pirate. "OK, I'll try not to make you wait too long, Captain Marine."

Marine smirked. "Captain Marine…oi loike tha'…"

**The End!**

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And that's all she wrote. Hope you liked it. Again, Merry Christmas to all...

And to all a good night!


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